Of the original two small bunches I found, one was almost entirely pecked away. The other was as you see in the photo. I was surprised that they ripened so quickly.Considering that I only had one bunch left, I was concerned about not losing the remaining grapes to birds or other critters. These look perfect but the big question was, are they ripe yet? I decided to take a chance and picked them.
Unfortunately they are still pretty tart, which means I need to learn how to tell when they are ready to harvest! I do have a second chance however, as afterward I discovered a few more small bunches.....
Hopefully I can get these before the birds do. :)
Copyright by Leigh 8 July 2009 at http://www.5acresandadream.com/
9 comments:
today I was out adjusting all my nets to make sure that none are too close to the fruit, so that the birds cannot peck the fruit right through the nets. I know there is a certain robin who isn't happy with me.
soon enough they'll be after my apples! I also need to figure out how to tell when my fruit is finished ripening.
oh, very cool!! I don't suppose you have any way of telling what variety of grape they are? I seem to remember reading that some varieties do not ever get sweet - wine grapes, in particular, stay tart I think.
They certainly look like they'd taste great! Hopefully the sign of their ripeness is not a flock of birds eating them!!
Good luck claiming some as your own!
Sue
Your grapes sure look good! We had Concord grapes and the birds never bothered them. Either they don't like them or had enough to eat and left them alone. Good luck.
Beautiful! We tried grapes up here...the deer liked the vines. ;-( we do have little sweet wild strawberries all
over the place and sometimes I beat the critters and manage to snag one or two. Not often though!
When we lived in NJ we had several grap vines that crawls over an open arbor frame my grandfather built. He use to take the grapes when they were starting out and wrap them in a screen mesh bag. My mom use to sew they up and us kids would hook the string through the loops then we'd help him put them on the bunches. It might help if you do this. The grapes looks yummy. It they never get sweet you'll certainly can have a good grape jam.
Hello Leigh,
I found this blog via your fiber blog via a google search for information on spinning 'wraps per inch'. I'm also a spinner and knitter, own an unused loom and wish my life were more sustainable. I'll be back to read often.
Willow
Birds end being a love-hate thing. I love to hear them and have them eat the insects, but I hate it when they eat my food. Because it's been cool clear into July, we've got a flock of blackbirds that should have already migrated north. We need it to get hot so they're leave! I have no idea how you can protect grapes. Call the Cooperative Extension.
I have some cheesecloth that I might try. I need to figure something out because we plan to plant a lot of fruit.
Willow, welcome! I hope both of my blogs continue to be of interest to you.
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